The further and continuing adventures of the girl who sat in the back of your homeroom, reading and daydreaming.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Now That's Eatin'

There are all manner of awfulnesses 'pon which to comment, including yet another chapter of the modern revival of a custom once common among the pornea of old but I have elected, at least for now, to leave that to others in favor of mentioning something near and dear to me: dinner.

The local Sunflower Market, a sort of hippie capitalist supermarket in the long-ago A&P building where my Dad worked during his High School years, is proud to offer local marvels and their most recent find was a trove of brilliantly-red cherry peppers, the kind usually found only pickled in glass jars.

Fresh cherry peppers offer their own unique heat, slow-building, long-lasting, not as sharp and annoyingly persistent as a jalapeno while both stronger and smoother than pale-green Anaheim peppers. It's a bit much to eat one by itself, though they could work well on an antipasto tray. You could cook with them; properly treated, they'd add a nice bite to home-made chili. Tonight, I cooked nothing. I was lazy. Here's how it works:

Start with:1 or 2 Cherry peppers, finedly dicedAt least a half-dozen kalamata olives, chopped (vary to taste) (I love these and used about a dozen).2 or 3 slices of Jarlsberg or other light Swiss cheese, chopped1 can of tuna in olive oil, drainedMix everything in a bowl, let it sit a spell in the fridge if you have time, and enjoy! It needs no other spice or dressing. You could use tuna in spring water but the oil helps keep the cherry peppers from overpowering the other flavors. A fresh herb salad -- the bagged-up ready-made kind -- makes a nice side.

It won't cure the ills of the Federal Government or make the hostile, backwards rats of the world love you, but for a little while, those things won't matter as much!

"I saw to what extent the people among whom I lived could be trusted as good neighbors and friends; that their friendship was for summer weather only; that they did not greatly propose to do right; that they were a distinct race from me by their prejudices and superstitions."